Apollo’s Qdoba move is latest in CEO’s junk-food buyouts

Apollo Management CEO Leon Black has a taste for junk food — and his employee Lance Milken appears to have a taste for junk bonds.

The private-equity powerhouse — whose billionaire boss has gorged himself in the past on buyouts of chains like Chuck E. Cheese’s and Carl’s Jr. — agreed on Tuesday to shell out $305 million to buy the Qdoba Mexican Eats chain from Jack in the Box.

The deal was led by Apollo’s Lance Milken — the 42-year-old son of Michael Milken, who gained notoriety as Drexel Burnham Lambert’s “junk-bond king” in the ’80s.

Terms weren’t disclosed, but a source close to the situation said Deutsche Bank financed the deal with bonds that could carry interest rates as high as 12 percent.

The bonds won’t price until next month, but the sky-high rates are likely to land them in junk territory, sources said.

“We are firmly committed to Qdoba’s continued growth as a leading fast-casual restaurant operator,” Milken said in a Tuesday press release.

Several other banks were shown the deal and turned it down, deciding it was too risky to fund, sources said.

“That is a pretty high rate,” John Gordon of Pacific Management Consulting Group said.

Private equity firms when buying companies put down a relatively small amount of equity and have the company borrow the rest to finance the deal. The equity and loan are then used to pay the seller, and the acquired company is forced to pay off the loan.

Qdoba has been struggling. In November, it said same-stores sales fell 2.1 percent in the most recent quarter and 1.5 percent in the most recent fiscal year.

The Post reported exclusively Nov. 2 that Apollo was eyeing the chain?and on Dec. 7 that Apollo was very close to a deal.